


sweet sensations (hot temptations)

by amusewithaview



Series: fanfiction is a valid love language [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alpha Tony Stark, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Beta Pepper Potts, F/F, F/M, Omega Darcy Lewis, Scenting, Sensuality, That one ABO AU where you recognize your perfect match/soulmate by smell.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 00:36:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6216574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amusewithaview/pseuds/amusewithaview
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The moment Pepper breathed in the smells of the lab, everything went sharp and gilt-edged.  Her eyes scanned rapidly while her lungs strained to take in as much air as she could.  In her peripheral vision she saw Foster and Selvigg look up and freeze, she saw Boothby back away with his hands up to show they were empty, but her focus was on <i>Lewis</i>.  Her eyes locked onto <i>Darcy</i> and everything she’d been worrying about, every other concern faded into insignificance in comparison to <i>this</i>, meeting the omega she and Tony had quietly hoped for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sweet sensations (hot temptations)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stateofconstantconfusion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stateofconstantconfusion/gifts).



> stateofconstantconfusion requested, "Hello! So I saw that I won a fic. I am hella excited about this cause I love your writing:) So I was thinking a Darcy/Pepper/Tony although I'm debating between a soulmate AU or an ABO...I really love both... SOULMATE AND ABO."
> 
> HEY, YOU READERS!
> 
> Okay, now that I have your attention: this doesn't get overtly sexual, but it's definitely _very_ sensual and there's a decent amount of over-the-clothes touching.

Pepper knew that Tony was not actually capable of scheduling emergency Avengers missions so that they would blow her meticulously planned schedule to tiny, tiny pieces. He did not have any conscious control over when the world would fall into peril. She _knew_ this. It just _seemed_ like he did when he _somehow_ managed to be called out just _moments_ before the few events, meetings, and appearances she managed to get him to agree to.

On the positive side, every missed event generated her an IOU.

On the negative side, she had roughly twenty IOUs saved up at this point because it _just kept happening_.

Which led her to her current situation: trotting down the hall towards one of the new labs Tony had installed near the residential floors in order to greet the newest inhabitants of the Tower. She _should_ be prepping for her 10:30 update meeting with R &D. _Tony_ should be greeting the newest members of his elite little science coterie. _Thor_ should be greeting his girlfriend. Unfortunately, there were octopi approximately the size of school busses attacking San Francisco so instead _she_ was the one who had to find an extra fifteen minutes in an already-packed day in order to check in and be the face of the Tower. JARVIS, though a dear, was still bodiless and that could be a bit off-putting for newcomers.

She paused outside the lab, taking a few deep breaths and focusing to make sure the stink of frustration didn’t linger too obviously. Foster, Selvigg, and Boothby were all alphas and the last thing she needed was to set them further off-balance when they were already dealing with the issues inherent with setting up shop in what was so obviously another alpha’s territory. Lewis was an omega, which would help, but not if Pepper made her feel uncomfortable or unwelcome.

Feeling calmer, Pepper put on a practiced smile, then signaled for JARVIS to open the door, stepped through, and –

The moment she breathed in the smells of the lab, everything went sharp and gilt-edged. Her eyes scanned rapidly while her lungs strained to take in as much air as she could. In her peripheral vision she saw Foster and Selvigg look up and freeze, she saw Boothby back away with his hands up to show they were empty, but her focus was on _Lewis_. Her eyes locked onto _Darcy_ and everything she’d been worrying about, every other concern faded into insignificance in comparison to _this_ , meeting the omega she and Tony had quietly hoped for.

Pepper took a small step forward, mouth opening and closing as she tried to find something to say.

Darcy grinned at her obvious discomfiture and let out a welcoming chirrup.

At the clear invitation, she closed the distance between them and carefully wrapped her arms around the shorter woman, ducking down to tuck her face against the soft, sweet-smelling skin of the omega’s neck.

_God_ , she smelled _fantastic_. Like dark, sweet cherries and brown sugar and –

Darcy hugged Pepper back and started petting her hair.

Oh.

Oh, _damn_. Tony would never let her live this down.

Pepper was _purring_.

…

Tony froze when he entered the penthouse common area and was immediately inundated with the scents of three new alphas. He smiled, the better to display his canines, and twirled one of his armor-summoning wrist cuffs (they _were not_ bracelets, no matter what Pepper said) as he headed towards the kitchen: the source of the scents. It took one look at the trio sitting around the table for his aggression to melt away into confusion. One look, and an accusatory, “ _YOU!_ ” from the woman he recognized as Dr. Foster, a woman he was pretty sure he hadn’t met in person before, and should therefore (hopefully) not have accidentally pissed off. Who knew, though? His ability to push others’ buttons was probably near superhuman levels.

“Yes? Me? I do live here, I would have thought you’d expect me,” he said.

“You!” she said again, jabbing a finger at him and swaying a little in her chair – Dr. Foster, he realized, was drunk and (judging by the scant number of beer bottles visible on the table) a lightweight – “You stole my favorite Darcy!”

“…what?”

“She’s the only Darcy you know,” Dr. Selvigg said, looking a little amused.

“So?” Dr. Foster was apparently a _belligerent_ drunk. “She’s still my favorite!”

Tony sighed. He had just spent the last several hours crisping enough over-sized octopi to keep all of San Francisco well-fed on calamari for at least a week, there were three new alphas being added to the volatile mix that was Avengers Tower, Wanda and Steve had not stopped bickering the _entire return flight_ because of some off-hand comment Cap had made and Pietro had taken offense to, and on top of _that_ he’d gotten a front-row seat to the first meeting of Namor and Natasha – surprise soulmates, though how they’d navigate _that_ bond was anyone’s guess. He was tired and smelled faintly of seafood and all he wanted was to find Pepper and hold her until the urge to automate his suit and escape to Tahiti for a few months of sun and sand and a solitary workshop dissipated.

“All right, Foster, I’ll bite. How did I steal your Darcy?”

“Because Pepper Potts is her ‘mate and that means she’s probably yours too and - “

Tony was out of the room by ‘probab,’ and in the elevator by ‘ly.’

There was no way –

Pepper would have comm’d –

Unless she was worried about distracting him –

Or if _she_ was too distracted –

He was shaking, jittery, the post-battle adrenaline crash melting away as his mind raced. It took scant seconds for the elevator to take him to the floor he shared with Pepper, their unofficial den. It felt like a millennium.

The doors opened and –

He took a deep breath and nearly fell to his knees.

Foster had been telling the _truth_ , Darcy really _was_ their omega.

They’d found their missing piece.

He walked down the hall slowly, following the scents of his beta and _his omega_ and a faint sound – he could almost swear it was… but no, it couldn’t be - to the living room. Pepper was draped belly-down across the couch, shoes shed and head resting in the lap of a lovely-looking brunette, having her scalp massaged while she purred _thunderously_.

He couldn’t hold back his soft sound of delight because Pepper. Pepper _purring_.

Three blue eyes locked on him: Darcy’s gaze was bright and mischievous while Pepper appeared too relaxed to bother opening both eyes. The omega - _their_ omega – was curvy and, though it was difficult to tell with her sitting, appeared unusually short for a woman of her dynamic. She smiled at him and raised an eyebrow. “You going to stand there all day or come join the cuddle puddle?”

“Normally, I would object to anything with such a cutesy name,” he said, not quite _running_ closer but moving with alacrity all the same, “but Pepper appears to have melted into the upholstery. I don’t think we could move her with anything shy of an exclusive trade deal with Latveria.”

“Oh really?” Darcy asked, lips quirking. She waited till he’d seated himself at her side, then twisted the hand in Pepper’s hair, lightly scraping her nails across the back of the redhead’s neck.

Pepper’s back _arched_ , face turning to press against Darcy’s thigh as her purr trailed into a low, begging _moan_.

Tony’s mouth went dry and he had to focus all his considerable mental might on forcing down the roar of alpha instincts trying to swamp him at _that sound_. He reached out slowly, giving Darcy time to object if she wanted (she didn’t), and curled his hand around the back of her neck, thumb resting on her rapidly-fluttering pulse. He could feel the little hitch in her breath as he stroked her soft skin, back and forth and back and forth, until the muscles beneath his hand went loose and pliant and her head dropped to rest on the back of the couch. Darcy’s eyes had slipped shut, but her lips were slightly parted and her breathing had become hurried and shallow.

He leaned in, ghosting the tip of his nose over her bared neck and sucking in air like a drowning man. She smelled utterly fantastic, spicy and warm. He pressed a gentle kiss to her throat and smiled against her skin when he felt her tremble.

“So,” he said leaning back a little and using his grip on Darcy’s neck to raise her head so she could meet his eyes. Her pupils, he noticed with no small amount of satisfaction, were utterly blown, naught but the thinnest ring of blue to show their true color. He grinned, displaying his own particular brand of mischief: “Do we get to keep you?”

Pepper roused enough to lift her head and offer them both a lazy grin. “If she says ‘no’ I may just leave you for her,” she said, voice gone husky and soft.

“I wouldn’t even blame you,” Tony sighed, reaching out to cup the redhead's cheek with his free hand.

Darcy laughed, folding over Pepper and tucking her head against his shoulder. “Well, I can’t have the breakup of the tech world’s greatest power couple on my conscience. I guess _I’ll_ just have to keep both of _you._ ”

"Deal," Pepper said.

"No take-backs," Tony warned cheerfully. "So, Darcy - what are your thoughts on Tahiti?"

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Jane forgives Tony. Eventually.
> 
> 2\. Pepper purring is a Big Deal because she so rarely allows herself to relax like that.
> 
> 3\. Tony _does_ convince the ladies to go to Tahiti. (It doesn't take much.)


End file.
